Subes for life!

Shhhhh. Don’t let anyone know, but I’ve been dispatched on a secret mission for the last couple of weeks to uncover the Truth behind one of the world’s most sensational scandals.

You already know what I’m talking about, but I’ll say it again so we’re all on the same page: It’s the question of whether one can see Half Dome from Highway 99 in the Central Valley. I’ve been obsessed with the plausibility of this for a while now, but following the “do your own research” mantra I decided to check it out.

Here’s the photo which took the Internets by storm a few years back:

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of Yosemite Valley would just say Nope and move along to the next Internet hoax to debunk. But, the people who support this “visible from fah fah fah fah fah, fah fah far away”* theory are adamant about its veracity. Check it out. You’ll see discussion boards full of trigonometric proofs, people dropping “curvature of the earth” as a plausible explanation, at least one cartographic examination of the EXIF data, and even annotations to the photo with Sierra peak overlays to show Mt. Dana and Cloud’s Rest and Glacier Point and where El Capitan would be.

Seems legit if we base it solely on their enthusiasm. But, take a look at this pic I took a few weeks ago from the Foresta overlook (on Big Oak Flat Road, connecting Hwy 120 and Hwy 140 on the way into the Valley):

More or less the same perspective on Half Dome itself. But this pic was taken at about 4500′ elevation, looking east (obvs) into the Valley along basically the same sightline as the Denair shot. [My location is marked Yosemite Valley Vista Point on Google Maps, slightly northeast of Foresta. And yes, that is the prow of El Cap poking through the trees on the left.]

My conclusion (spoiler alert) is that the other pic is a ‘shopped lolz gimmick and nothing more. You probably already determined that as well, but I’m a slow learner.

Here’s my logic: If one only gets an obstructed view from this close (~10mi) and from this elevation (~4500′), how would the view get better from 60 miles away at a much lower elevation (125′) and with even more mountains in the way? My little gray cells are struggling. It seems obvious, but man oh man the fervent few proponents sure make their theory contagious.

You can decide for yourself. I’m only asking the questions here.

Deeds the intrepid hoax debunker, signing off for now.

*It’s even fahther than The Hinterlands.